opal fields again

Saturday morning we left Bourke to follow the Darling to Louth and Tilpa.  The road was excellent for an outback dirt road.  In places it turned to a bit of a one lane track, but for the most, really good.  The only place we could see the river was a spot north of Louth and when we crossed at Louth and Tilpa.  We were quite disappointed that there were no places to pull off and just camp by the river.   The road actually crosses the floodplains, so nothing much to see but the low growing scrub.  Spent last night at Tilpa and watched the footy at the pub. The one thing the rains have brought is an abundance of wildflowers.  There was acres upon acres of them,  just beautiful. White, yellow, lavendar, purple, red, cerese.  We even saw some sturt desert pea this afternoon on our way to White Cliffs.  Being Sunday, Wilcannia was pretty deserted, so we just refueled and headed off.  The road to White Cliffs has some spectacular scenery.  We were very surprised as we expected more flat country.  Not so.  There are rolling hills, the occasional escarpment and then you are here.  This place is quite different to Lightning Ridge.  Lots of underground dwellings here. Plan to spend two nights here and have a look around.  We will fossick on the mullock heaps and see what we can find.  Will have to talk to the locals first as the opals may be contained in different material than at Lightning Ridge and we don't want to throw any away!  Superb weather lately and the forecast looks good.  We've actually had 4 fine days together.  Bye til next time.

road Tilpa to Wilcannia

looking forward toward Wilcannia on the goat track part of the road

wildflowers Tilpa to Wilcannia along the Darling R.